Giant silk cuckoo
| Giant silk cuckoo | ||||||||||||
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Giant Silk Cuckoo ( Coua gigas ) |
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| Coua gigas | ||||||||||||
| ( Boddaert , 1783) |
The giant silk cuckoo ( Coua gigas ), also known as the giant coua , is a species of bird belonging to the genus of the silk cuckoo ( Coua ). It occurs in Madagascar and represents the largest recent species of silk cuckoo.
features
The giant silk cuckoo reaches a size of 58 to 62 centimeters. There is no such thing as gender dimorphism . The top of the head is dark brown, the neck, the back and the wings are olive gray with a dull bronze-colored sheen. The tail is glossy black. The outer tail feathers show white tips. The underside, throat and upper chest are white. The underbust is tan. The belly is rust-brown to black. The under tail-coverts are black. The bare facial skin around the eyes is three-colored. The upper area is bright greenish-blue, below and behind the eyes it is pink to purple and in front of the eyes it is gray-blue. The bare skin of the face is surrounded by black feathers. A blue eye ring runs around the brown to reddish brown iris. The beak, legs and feet are black.
In juvenile birds, the plumage is duller and less luminous. The wing covers are olive gray with beige spots. The hand and arm wings are olive gray with beige tips and a black subterminal band. The tail is less shiny than that of the adult birds. The bare skin of the face is dull blue. The beak is bright.
Vocalizations
The call can consist of deep “wo wok wok” tones, a throaty “ayoo-ew” sound, a reverberant “kookookookoogogo” and a short grunt.
habitat
The giant silkworm lives in dry forests, thorn bush land in areas with lime-rich soils, forests and bushland on sandy soils, gallery forests and coastal forests with large trees and sparse undergrowth. It is absent in forests on laterite soils. The giant silkworm can be found in regions from sea level to altitudes of 1250 meters.
Distribution and Status
The giant silk cuckoo occurs in the south and west of Madagascar north to the river Betsiboka . It is fairly common in thorny woods and gallery woods, often in the west and less common in the south of its range. The IUCN classifies the giant silk cuckoo in the category not endangered. He is hunted locally by children.
Way of life
The giant silkworm mainly forages on the ground. He walks on the forest floor and scratches the foliage for insects and other invertebrates. When searching for prey, it moves swiftly and suddenly changes direction at a sharp angle. When catching prey on trees, it pushes off with legs and feet, jumps into the air and catches its food in flight. In the early hours of the morning it often visits sunny spots on the forest floor, spreads its wings and absorbs the warmth.
The diet consists of insects and other terrestrial invertebrates , including millipedes, beetles, ants, flies, butterfly larvae, grasshoppers, and small reptiles. Occasionally he also eats seeds. Nest building was observed from late October to December. Nests with eggs were found in November and December, and young birds were observed in January. Males and females build the bowl-shaped nest together. It is erected from twigs, bark and large leaves three to ten meters above the ground in acacia and tamarind trees and padded with leaf stalks. It is usually hidden in the thick vegetation of the lianas. The nest has a circumference of 25 to 40 centimeters and is 25 centimeters high. The clutch usually consists of three blunt white eggs measuring 43.5 × 32 mm. The duration of the breeding and nestling season is unknown. The giant silk cuckoo is a resident bird .
literature
- Robert B. Payne: The Cuckoos. Bird Families of the World. Volume 15 , Oxford University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-19-850213-3
- Steven M. Goodman et al .: The birds of southeastern Madagascar. In: Fieldiana. Zoology. New Series, No. 87. Field Museum of Natural History, 1997
Individual evidence
- ↑ Coua gigas in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed October 29, 2012th